Strides in Development of Medical Education

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Science and Psychology, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

Background: Program accreditation is a quality assurance educational program implemented in many countries.
Objectives: This study aimed to compare program accreditation standards of the Ministry of Health of Iran with several selected countries and to extract program accreditation standards to benefit from the experiences of other countries.
Methods: The present descriptive-comparative study was performed in 2020. The information required for the study was collected by searching on the Internet on valid websites of accreditation institutes of medical sciences and higher education in Iran and other countries. Among them, the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) program accreditation standards and eight countries from different continents were compared with Iran. The research was conducted using the Beredy model.
Results: The results showed that the standards in the studied programs were significantly different both quantitatively and qualitatively. It was also found that the accreditation standards of educational programs in Iran, Kazakhstan, and the WFME were consistent regarding the areas’ number and titles, but there was a difference in the number and titles of the criteria and indicators.
Conclusion: Considering the vital role of graduates of medical sciences in promoting community health and also given the current and particular situation and the global conflict with COVID-19 epidemic, which has disrupted face-to-face education and evaluation at all educational levels, upgrading and improving the quality of medical education programs seems necessary more than ever. Therefore, to evaluate and promote the quality of these programs, it is suggested to codify accreditation standards of educational programs locally and according to the current conditions.

Keywords

  1. Tamjid Tash E, Moalal Chobgholo M. A comparative study of the process of citizenship education in primary school education, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan. Soc Sci Stud. 2014;11(40):18-32.
  2. Jafari Asl M, Chehrzed MM, Shafipour SZ, Ghanbari A. Quality of educational services from viewpoint's of nursing and midwifery students of Guilan University Based on Servqual Model. Research in Medical Education. 2014; 6(1):50-8. doi:10.18869/acadpub.rme.6.1.50. [In Persian]
  3. Karimi Moonaghi H, Bagheri M. Jigsaw: A good student-centered method in medical education. Future of Medical Education Journal. 2017;7(1):35-40.
  4. Safdari Dah Cheshmeh F, Hassan Zahraei R, Ehsanpour S. Investigating international management and organization standards in midwifery and proposing appropriate national standards. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research. 2005;10(3):77. [In Persian]
  5. Bazargan-Harandi A. Capacity building to evaluate and improve the quality of the higher education system, international experiences and national needs in creating the appropriate structure. Majlis & Rahbord. 2003;10(41):141-58. [In Persian]
  6. Aliyari S, Maleki H, Pazargadi M, Abbaspour A. Designing Accreditation Model for Curricula of Baccalaureate Degree Nursing Education in Iran. Iran J Med Educ. 2016; 16:328-40. [In Persian]
  7. Bazargan Harandi A. Educational evaluation (Concepts, patterns, and operational process). 16 ed. Tehran: Samt; 2018. [In Persian]
  8. Secretariat of the Council for Undergraduate Medical Education. National Standards for UndergraduateMedical Education Program of Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran: Ministry of Health and Medical Education: 2017. [In Persian]
  9. Council for General Pharmacy Standards for General Pharmacy  Education Program of Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran: Ministery of Health and Medical Education; 2019. [In Persian]
  10. Basic medical education WFME global standards for quality improvement–the 2015 revision. Copenhagen, Denmark: WFME Office Copenhagen; 2015.
  11. AQAS-Decision of the Accreditation Commission. Criteria for programme accreditation. [cited 2019 Feb 26]. Available from:https://www.aqas.eu/downloads/Criteria%20for%20Programme%20Accreditation.pdf.
  12. Catton P, Tallett S, Sugar L, Rothman AJA-RCOP, CANADA SO. A guide to internal program evaluation for program directors. Annals-Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. 1999;32(8):441-8.
  13. Glossary of Key Terms in Quality Assurance and Accreditation. International Quality Review, Council for Higher Education Accreditation, Washington DC. [cited 2002 Jul 22]. Available from: http://www.chea.org.
  14. The Center for the Health Professions. The Task Force on Accreditation of Health Professions Education: Working Papers. University of California, San Francisco: Healthforce Center at UCSF. [cited 1998 Jun]. Available from: https://healthforce.ucsf.edu/publications/task-force-accreditation-health-professions-education-working-papers.
  15. Criteria for Programme Accreditation. South Africa Higher Education Quality Committee(HEQC), Council on Higher Education(CHE) 2004. [cited 2012 Sep 27]. Available from: http://www.uct.ac.za/usr/ipd/HEQC/HEQC_IAcriteria
  16. Naseri N, Salehi S, Khalifehzadeh A, Yousefy A. Developing Clinical Nursing Education Standards in Iran Based on International Standards. Iranian Journal of Medical Education. 2010; 10 (1) :71-81. [In Persian]
  17. Mohammadi R, Fathabadi J, Yadegarzadeh G, Mirzamohammadi M, Parand K. Quality Evaluation in higher education: concepts, principles, approaches & criteria. Tehran: Publication Center of National Organization for Educational Testing; 2006.
  18. Damme DV. Standards and Indicators in Institutional and Programme Accreditation in Higher Education. A Conceptual Framework and a Proposal; 2011.
  19. Hämäläinen K, Mustonen K, Holm K. Standards, criteria, and indicators in programme accreditation and evaluation in Western Europe. In: Vlasceanu L, Conley Barrows L. Indicators for Institutional and Programme Accreditation in Higher/Tertiary Education. Bucharest: UNESCO-CEPES; 2004:17-32.
  20. Van Zanten M, Boulet JR, Greaves L. The importance of medical education accreditation standards. Med Teach. 2012;34(2):136-45. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2012.643261. [PMID: 22288991].
  21. Blouin D. Accreditation of Canadian Undergraduate Medical Education Programs: A Study of Measures of Effectiveness. Acad Med. 2020 Jun;95(6):931-937. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003065. [PMID: 31702693].
  22. Cueto Jr J, Burch VC, Adnan NAM, Afolabi BB, Ismail Z, Jafri W, et al. Accreditation of undergraduate medical training programs: practices in nine developing countries as compared with the United States. Educ Health (Abingdon). 2006 Jul;19(2):207-22. doi: 10.1080/13576280600783570. [PMID: 16831802].
  23. Allahdadian M, Salehi S, Hassan Zahraie R, Farahmand H. Proposing Appropriate National Standards for Nursing and Midwifery Education Derived from International Standards: a Case Study, Master of Science in Nursing and Midwifery. Iran J Med Educ. 2008; 8(1):15-22. [In Persian]
  24. Naseri N, salehi S, Khalifehzadeh A, Yousefy A. Developing Clinical Nursing Education Standards in Iran Based on International Standards. Iran J Med Educ. 2010; 10(1) :71-81. [In Persian]
  25. Safdari R, Meidani Z. Health Services Accreditation Standards for information management in Canada, New Zealand and USA: a comparative study. J Res Health Sci. 2006;6(1):1-7.
  26. Aghazade A. The comparative education. Tehran: Payame Noor University Pub; 2006. [In Persian]
  27. Molaeinezhad A, Zekavati A. A comparative study of the teacher training curriculum system in England, Japan, France, Malaysia, and Iran. Journal of Educational Innovations. 2008; 7(26): 35-62. [In Persian]
  28. Jafari Harandi R, Mirshah Jafari, SE, Liaghatdar MJ. A comparative study of the science curriculum in Iran and several countries in the world. Studies in Education & Psychology. 2010;11(1):235-60. [In Persian]
  29. Zandi B, Farahani AAF. A Comparative Study of the Status of Physical Education in Iran with American and Canadian Countries. Journal of Movement Science & Sports. 2009;6(12):97-109. [In Persian]
  30. Zhu R. (dissertation). A Comparative Study of the College Entrance Examinations (CEEs): SAT and ACT in the United States and Gaokao in the People's Republic of China. Ohio: University of Akron; 2014.
  31. ACEN Accreditation Manual. Standards and Criteria,Baccalaureate Atlanta: Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing; 2017. [cited 2017 Jul 20]. Available from: https://www.acenursing.org/acen-accreditation-manual/i.
  32. Medical School Accreditation Committee. Standards for assessment and accreditation of primary medical programs by the Australian Medical Council 2012. Kingston, Australia: Australian Medical Council Limited; 2012.
  33. Standards for Programme Accreditation Basic Medical Education General Medicine. Almaty, Kazakhstan: Eurasian Сentre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Healthcare; 2017. [cited 2017 Feb 7]. Available from: http://www.ecaqa.org/doxs/ENG/Standards%20for%20BME%20Programme%20Accreditaion%20-%20%20ECAQA%202017.pdf.
  34. Standards for the Accreditation of University Schools of Degree Nursing Programmers in the Caribbean Community (Carcom). Jamaica: Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions(CAAM-HP Secretariat); 2010.
  35. Standards for Institutional Licensure and Program Accreditation. United Arab Emirates: Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry of Education. [cited 2019 Dec 20]. Available from: https://www.caa.ae/PORTALGUIDELINES/Standards%202019%20-%20Dec%202019%20v2.docx.pdf.
  36. Standards for Programme Accreditation of Undergraduate Medical Programmes, Malaysian: Medical Education Commmittee, Malaysian Medical Council. [cited 2019 May 28]. Available from: https://mmc.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/STANDARDS-FOR-UNDERGRADUATE-MEDICAL-EDUCATION-Version-1-Updated-on-17-Dis-2019.pdf.
  37. Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). ENQA Brussels. Belgium: European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education; 2015.